Tyson turns to profit for 4Q and fiscal year

Arkansas Business, Nov 19, 2007

Tyson Foods Inc. turned to a profit for its fiscal 2007 year with all segments--chicken, beef and pork and prepared foods--showing improvement and the company posting record sales.

The world's largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork and the second-largest food production company in the Fortune 500 said fourth-quarter net income was $32 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $56 million or, 17 cents a share, for the company's final period of its fiscal year in 2006.

Fourth-quarter sales were $6.9 billion compared with $6.5 billion last year.

For its fiscal year, Tyson reported earnings of $268 million, or 75 cents a share, compared with a loss of $196 million, or 58 cents a share, for its 2006 fiscal year. Tyson's fiscal year ended Sept. 29 this year and Sept. 30 last year.

"We made tremendous progress in fiscal 2007," said Richard L. Bond, president and chief executive officer. "All four segments were profitable for the quarter, as anticipated, and profitability improved year over year for each segment. We achieved record sales of $27 billion.... We exceeded $265 million in annualized savings from our Cost Management Initiative, and we recently completed efforts to streamline the organization and improve our decision-making processes for greater agility as a company," Bond said.

Based on the company's outlook for fiscal 2008, earnings per share are estimated to be in the range of 30 cents to 70 cents.

By segment, for the year, chicken now makes up 30.4 percent of net sales at $8.2 billion; beef makes up 47.2 percent of net sales at $12.7 billion; pork makes up 12.3 percent of net sales at $3.3 billion; and prepared foods make up 9.9 percent at $2.7 billion.